1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to power supplies, and more particularly, to batteries and power supplies, which are conformable to a structure or integrated into the structure itself.
2. Prior Art
All existing and future smart and guided projectiles and those with means of one-way or two-way communications with a command or tracking station or with each other require electric power for their operation. As munitions are equipped with health monitoring and diagnostics capabilities, they would also require a low level of power supply for long periods of time. The amount of power required for the proper operation of such smart and guided munitions or those equipped with health monitoring and diagnostics capabilities, is dependent on their mode of operation and the on-board devices that have to be powered. The amount of power requirement is relatively small if the projectile is only required to receive a RF or similar signal and to power low power sensors such as MEMs type of accelerometers and rate gyros or health monitoring and diagnostics related electronics. The power required is increased if the projectile is also required to communicate back to the ground or some mobile station. The power requirement becomes significant when the projectile has to be equipped with electric or smart materials based actuation devices for guidance and control, particularly if the projectile is required to become highly maneuverable while traveling at relatively high speeds. As the result, one power source solution is not expected to be practical and/or optimal for all current and planned future applications. The power source requirements and specifications in terms of rate of discharge, mode of activation (if any), charge and leakage levels during storage, acceleration levels to be experienced, etc., also varies significantly from one application to the other. For example, for current and immediate future applications, the following power source requirements are generally regarded to exist:    (1) High capacity, fast rate of discharge and conformal power sources to replace existing power sources on conventional fielded systems such as mortar and artillery. The current power sources include:            Thermal batteries        Nickel Cadmium batteries        Currently available batteries based on Lithium technologies            (2) Power sources for new applications and capabilities such as smart munitions and various FCS (Future Combat Systems) munitions:            Low-discharge power sources for long-term health monitoring        Low-discharge power sources for self diagnostics        High capacity power sources for guidance and control actuation such as electric motors, smart materials based actuators, etc.            (3) Power generation and storage (usually low power and no-charge requirement for safety) for extremely harsh environments for applications such as:            Advance Kinetic Energy rounds        Small Arms        Medium caliber rounds        Fuses and the like        
The wide range of power requirements, operating conditions and environmental, safety and reliability issues and shelf life requirements clearly validates the aforementioned conclusion that no single power source can be appropriate and may be optimally designed for all the current and perceived future applications.
In all devices and systems that operate with different types of batteries, whether rechargeable or not, the batteries occupy a relatively large portion of the entire volume of the device or system. This is particularly the case for gun fired projectiles since they are subject to very high accelerations during the firing with accelerations in the order of 10–20,000 g being very common while going up to and over 100,000 g for certain projectiles. In addition, such projectiles will be subject to high levels of vibration, impact type of loading, and certain amount of lower levels of repeated loading and acceleration and deceleration cycles as they are handled during transportation and loading. Thus, appropriate means have to be provided to isolate and protect the batteries and their related components such as contacts, wiring, electronics, etc., from damage such as breakage due to plastic deformation, fatigue or other modes of failure and/or improper operation. Therefore more space is required for housing such protective and impact hardening components. As a result, a considerable amount of the available space has to be assigned to house the batteries and their related components. In addition to the space requirements, one also faces problems related to reliability and survivability of the hardening components during the firing, proper operation at all times, deterioration during long periods of storage and the high cost of production and assembly into the projectile and related hardening efforts and testing.